Sponsor: Canterbury USA

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

An Inside Look At An ATAVUS Camp

We were recently in San Diego and were able to attend an ATAVUS camp. Players from all over the West Coast flew in to go through the paces while being coached by Shalom Suniula and the rest of the ATAVUS staff. Also in attendance and helping out a the camp we attended was Women Eagles head coach Richie Walker as well as captain Kelly Griffins. That's one of the advantages that ATAVUS has in their San Diego camps.

Nearly all of the players at the camp were returning from previous camps. One of the major points of emphasis for ATAVUS is a year round tracking system for all of their players. ATAVUS isn't just interested in having people come to their camps and learning a few tidbits here and there, they are interested in seeing growth throughout the year. According to the coaches and players we talked to all could see a change in performance.

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The focus of many of the drills at the camp was on core skills. Natural to an organization led by Waisale Serevi mastering the basic skills is a key component of every camp. The idea is that if you can't do the basics well you can't do anything else well. When we asked the national team members helping run the camp they mentioned that these are many of the same drills they do every day.

One special addition at this camp was speed coach Les Spellman. He was helping players go through the mechanics of speed and making sure they get their form right to increase their speed. Spellman noted that it wasn't just the Carlin Isles-like speed that can be taught but it's also lateral speed and gaining that initial burst.

Overall we couldn't have been more impressed by the camp. Yes, ATAVUS are one of our sponsors but even if that wasn't the case it's hard to not attend a camp and not come away with the impression that ATAVUS are teaching young players the skills that are going to make them successful players for years to come.